Maha share of woes over quotas
Govt is trying to pacify Marathas after Apex court verdict; it’s also facing irk of SC, ST communities whose 33% quota in promotions was taken back based on a 2017 HC order
MUMBAI: Even as the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is facing the ire of the Marathas over the Supreme Court’s (SC) decision to scrap quota in jobs and education meant for the community, there is more trouble brewing for the three-party coalition government over another reservation issue.
The state’s decision to scrap the 33% reservation given to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes (ST) and other reserved categories for promotions in its administration has irked the employees from these communities, with politicians threatening to agitate over the issue. This has also led to a tussle between the ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, as the latter appears to be in favour of scrapping the 33% reservation to woo the Marathas.
In accordance with a Bombay high court (HC) order issued in 2017, the state has stopped the promotions of about 40,000 employees in its administration. The community is also apprehensive about losing the promotions given to them since 2004, when the decision to introduce such a reservation had been taken. The Congress has taken an aggressive stand on the issue.
As far as the Maratha community is concerned, the government will have to take a call deciding the future of 6,000 candidates who were to be recruited under the quota for the community, but were not given appointment letters due to the pending court cases. Their future is now uncertain owing to the SC verdict. Maratha outfits are demanding an immediate decision on the issue.
The promotion riddle
On May 7, the general administration department (GAD) issued a government resolution (GR) announcing to scrap the reservation in promotion in government service for the communities which together get 33% quota in government jobs. The decision to provide quota in promotion to employees in reserved categories had been taken by the Congressncp government in 2004. On April 20, GAD had issued a GR allowing promotions of open category employees by keeping the 33% reserved posts vacant. While the government said the decision to scrap the quota was taken as per a 2017 HC order, unions and leaders representing SC, ST employees alleged that it had been taken as a knee-jerk reaction to appease the Maratha community after their reservations was scrapped by SC. The unions also said that the quota in promotion was safeguarded by subsequent SC orders.
The May 7 order has now become a headache for the Uddhav Thackeray government as the unions and Dalit leaders are demanding its reversal. The issue has also led to friction between the Congress and NCP. Last week, deputy chief minister
Ajit Pawar from NCP, and energy minister Nitin Raut from the Congress, had an argument during a meeting of the cabinet subcommittee on the issue.
The sub-committee is headed by Pawar, while Raut and other ministers from Scheduled Caste and ST communities are its members. Raut posed many questions in the meeting and asked how can a GR be issued without the knowledge of the committee, why was it issued when the minutes of the last meeting was not prepared and how can the decision to scrap the reservation in promotion come immediately after the Maratha quota was scrapped.
“We are not against the Maratha reservation. In fact, we had supported it. But there should not be any suppression of the rights of people from other communities. The scrapping of the quota in reservation will affect the right of promotion of around 75,000 people,” said Raut, a Dalit leader, who also heads the Congress’s SC cell.
A section of the council of ministers are hell-bent on the implementation of the 33% quota saying that at least 20,000 employees from these communities retired without a promotion in the past four years.
A section of the Congress leaders also feel that it will have to face the consequences as backward communities form the party’s traditional voter base.
“The sub-committee constituted to deliberate upon the reservation in promotions is dominated by Maratha ministers and the decision to scrap the 33% quota was taken without taking it into confidence,” said a senior Congress leader. He added that the state Congress has decided to take the issue to its logical end and may not hesitate to issue an ultimatum to its partners. Raut is requesting party president Sonia Gandhi’s intervention, said the leader. The state Congress organised a virtual meeting of over 500 people representing employees’ organisations of the affected categories on Tuesday and announced to compel the government to revoke the May 7 order.
Meanwhile, minority affairs minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said that there was no infighting within MVA and the CM will find a way out. “Instead of making statements on public forums, Raut should approach CM who controls GAD. Raut has been pursuing the issue for the past one year and has been insisting to begin the process of promotions which was halted for four years. The decision was taken as per his demand, but now he is blaming others for the decision taken according to the court orders. He should resolve it amicably instead of talking publicly against the government decision. This issue, albeit, is not going to affect MVA government,” he said.
However, to make matters worse for MVA, Maratha outfits have taken a strong stand against the reservation in promotions and have also threatened to boycott the Congress in the forthcoming elections. “The Congress has taken a casteist approach by supporting only some communities over reservations. Like Raut, other Congress ministers such as Vijay Wadettiwar, Varsha Gaikwad, too, had taken an anti-maratha approach over the reservation issue. If this continues, we will have to take a firm stand to show the party its place,” said Maratha Kranti Morcha outfit in a statement.
Recruiting Marathas under scrapped quota
At least 6,000 youth from the Maratha community have been facing uncertainty over their recruitment in government jobs after the SC verdict. The court has safeguarded recruitments before September 9 under the Maratha quota. But none of them were given an appointment letter then.
Virendra Pawar of the Maratha Kranti Morcha said, “Only a few Maratha youth were appointed under the quota before SC scrapped it. It was just because of the inefficiency of the government that the recruitment process was not completed within time. Now it’s the responsibility of the government to see that they are given the appointments on posts they would have got under the quota.”
“There are 11 problems before us in recruiting these Maratha candidates and we are finding ways to ensure that they do not lose the quota benefits,” said an official from GAD.
The state government has appointed a high-level committee under retired HC judge Dilip Bhosale to study the order and recommend a way forward for Maratha reservations.
Political analyst Hemant Desai said that the issue of reservation in promotions may become crucial and add to the challenges for the government.
“For the first time since the government formation, the Congress has taken an aggressive stand on the issue of reservation in promotions and it may lead to a serious face-off between the ruling parties. The tussle is because NCP wants to woo the Marathas, while Congress does not want to lose its traditional vote bank. Also, it is a task before the government to recruit Maratha candidates who have been selected in government jobs and then to make it stand legally. These issues will haunt the MVA government, especially when the BJP is determined to corner them,” he said.
Subhash Gangurde, general secretary, Maharashtra government employees unions’ federation, said, “We do not believe in the caste system within the administration, but the reservation in promotions should be given as per Constitutional provisions. It is the responsibility of the government to protect it. It is beyond comprehension as to why the state failed to submit quantifiable data in the court in the past four years,” he said.